Manufactured buildings including mobile homes and modular housing are traditionally built upon a frame containing two or more longitudinal members and several transverse beams. Support systems for these buildings typically include concrete blocks or a plurality of support stands placed under the frame for supporting it and securing it to a foundation. Many conventional support systems are ineffective against the lateral forces created by seismic activities and heavy winds. As a result, these forces can move a manufactured building horizontally off its supports, thereby damaging its structure and utility connections.
Conventional support stands typically include a height adjustment mechanism for leveling the building relative to its foundation. An example of such a stand is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,108, to Madl, Jr. The disclosed stand includes a two stage vertical adjustment for a building. The first stage is a bolt through, incremental adjustment stage and the second is a screwed, fine adjustment stage. The head of a bolt used for the fine adjustment stage is contained within a channel which extends under a building frame clamping assembly. The channel does not assist during lifting of the building, instead the forces generated during the raising and lowering of the building are carried by the bolt. Because the bolt includes a pair of flat surfaces machined along its sides and a through bore, all of which reduce the strength of the bolt, the bolt will not be able to support the building during repetitive height adjustments over an extended period of time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,655, to Hoffmann, discloses an adjustable, telescoping structural support system secured to the frame of a manufactured home. The system includes first and second cylindrical members telescopically engaged with one another. Each member has a plurality of holes spaced about its periphery for receiving a through bolt to establish the height of the house with respect to the ground. The system does not provide for height adjustments between the intervals established by the holes in the side walls of each cylindrical member.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,259, to Tkach, discloses a combination anchor and support used to secure a mobile home to an underlying foundation. The combination anchor and support includes a housing that receives a threaded bolt for adjusting the height of the mobile home relative to the foundation. Such a manner for adjusting the height of a mobile home can be difficult and time consuming because large adjustments in height can only be achieved by extensively rotating the bolt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,237, to Coulter, discloses a device for anchoring a mobile home in a position above the ground. The height of the mobile home relative to the ground can be adjusted by rotating a pair of internally threaded nuts about a threaded rod. This manner of height adjustment can be difficult and time consuming because large height adjustments can only be achieved by extensive rotation of the nuts about the threaded rod.
There is a decided need in the art for a support system for manufactured buildings having at least one support stand which effectively anchors the building during earthquakes and heavy winds, and provides easy, fast and reliable height adjustment for leveling the building with its foundation over an extended period of time.